Japanese knives - 2 questions

[Jeff423]

I hope this isn't OT for this forum.

1- I'm looking for a Japanese folder for less than $200 - any recommendations?

2 - I was going to buy a Japanese kitchen knife but it said to only resharpen with a stone, not a steel. I use a steel on all my other Wusthof, Henkels, Victorianox and American knives and they remain very sharp. Why not a Japanese knife?

Thanks,

Jeff

[ronnie gore]

I make knives myself , and I don't see why you could not use a steel on them, although I prefer a 11 inch Norton stone.

[Swissman]

Mcusta makes veeery nice ones. Damascusstyle too.
BUT don't forget as an alternative the citadel-knives from Cambodia.

www.mcustaknives.com

.:: Knives Citadel ::.


And Johan from Icelandic Knives is an artist as a gunsmith too.

I own knives from every company

Swissman

[ohiojerry]

As for #1-check out Moki.

[Onomea]

I recently bought a nice Japanese kitchen knife. It is a western style chef's knife. About $130 from a sword and knife store here in Japan. The guy who owns the place and sold it to me is a sword polisher/sharpener by profession, and he put a very nice edge on it. I asked him about using a steel, and he commented that in Japan they don't use a steel, just stones. (This guy must have had a couple of dozen stones, by the way, easy.). He did not say one couldn't use a steel, and I did not ask the question that way.

Anyway, after a couple of months of occasional use, I used my steel on it, a couple of passes, gently. Worked fine, and sharpened it right up.

He did caution me not to try to cut bone with the knife as it would put a notch in the blade. He said if I ignored his advice, and did put a notch in the blade, to just bring it back and he'd fix it for me.

Great knife. I like it a lot.

[kwselke]

In my pocket I have a Spyderco Delica folder with a V8 10 Seki City Japan blade. That blade is so hard it only responds to carbide and diamond stones. Thankfully it does not need sharpening often. In my kitchen knife blocks I have an AJ Russell 6" chef's knife with a Damascus like Japanese stainless blade. All I have ever used on that knife is a simple soft steel. I believe the sharpening process will be dependent on the blade not its country of origin.

[RonJ]

Are you looking for a kitchen knife or a sporting knife?

Browning has some very nice folding knives that are made in Japan. One of my favorite folders is a Japanese Browning with Sambar Stag handles and brass bolsters. It holds a very nice edge and is also a very handsome knife. The knife was a gift but I think the price was around $80.00.

[Cooter Brown]

This gets talked about a lot on cooking forums. From what I've read, due to the blade geometry (think thin, shallow angle) and their hardness it's easier to chip the edge on a Japanese chef's knife.

I'd think careful and gentle is the way to go if you use a steel on a Japanese chef's knife. And a smooth, not a ribbed steel. But that's probably good advice for any nice knife.

I don't have any Japanese knives so take all that for what it's worth. I do steel my carbon and stainless kitchen knives.

[Nevada Ed]

A "Steel" straightens a knifes edge................

A stone or sharpening rod is used to sharpen the metal blade.

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Originally Posted by Jeff423

I hope this isn't OT for this forum.

1- I'm looking for a Japanese folder for less than $200 - any recommendations?


Thanks,

Jeff

I'll check with mama-san and see who's on call tonight.

[pownal55]

G. Sakai makes some beautiful semi custom knives. Their trout and bird folder with stag handle scales would be my choice.

[Engieman]

Check out the following web sight:

Chef Knives To Go: Kitchen Knives, Chef Knives, Japanese Knives

Anything you could want or need as it relates to Japanese kitchen cutlery, accessories, sharpening tools, and even video tutorials on care, sharpening, etc.

I have a number of Japanese knives, and rank them as the best in the world at the present time. I've never gone the Japanese water stone sharpening route...a hobby and adventure (expensive one) in itself. Has a cult following for the really OCD types on sharpening. I feel I get the same result with Spyderco ceramic rods system, and/or Arkansas Soft and Hard (translucent) stones; followed by stropping. Homemade strop of leather infused with Chromium Oxide. I seriously can't believe you could get a knife any sharper. I like my knives sharp, but while a thin 'razor' edge if wonderful for impressing your friends while popping off forearm hairs, is really impractical for daily use. Dulls and chips easily....although I do make it a point to shave hair when my son-in-law is around. Gentle reminder he's married to my one and only daughter....

Here's a good sight for Arkansas stones - mother nature at it's finest!

Home Page | Natural Stones | Halls Sharpening Stones

Have fun

[Texas Star]

I don't think the Japanese origin is so much a factor as the particular knife. I have a Gerber Silver Knight folder made in Seki City that responds well to ceramic rods. I don't use steels much, although I have an old Gerber steel from the 1970's.

The Fallkniven knives are designed in Sweden and sold from there, but are actually made to their specs by high grade cutlery firms in Japan. They're not cheap, but are handsome and rugged, and many models pass rigorous trials by both the Swedish and US governments and by the Technical University of Lulea in Sweden. Their F-1 model with optional black blade is the issue pilot survival knife in the Royal Swedish Air Force. If the pilot of a Draken or Viggen fighter has to punch out over an Arctic landscape, that's the knife he has to stay alive in sometimes frigid conditions

Fallkniven recommends using diamond hones. Their edge geometry on many models is what used to be called the Moran edge here or the Appleseed edge.

Their kitchen knives ere another matter and may require sharpening via another means.Their site may say:

www.fallkniven.com

Fallkniven has US dealers, but the prices on the home site are in Swedish kroner.

I can tell you that their kitchen items are so sharp that you can almost cut yourself by looking at them hard!

Their sheath knives are so nice that I just opened the shrink wrap on a box of tea with my NL-2. It is absurd to use a knife that large and heavy for the need, and I have knives better suited. A Henckels or a Wusthof kitchen knife normally gets the call for that duty. But I was just in the mood to use the NL-2 and was puttting it away after a monthly welfare check on it, so I used that 20CM (a bit over 8 inch) blade to open the tea. Hey, I need to handle the leather handle sometimes to get some skin oil into it so that it doesn't dry out. I did give it several coats of polish when it arrived a few years ago.

I don't know why more of you guys don't seem to use Fallkniven knives. They're exceptional. Look over the site and check out their folders. The only one I have is a U-2, with synthetic handle and a complex steel blade that is VERY sharp. I want several others. Work the buttons there and see the knives. I suppose that if I could only have one Fallkniven, it'd be a S-1 Forest Knife. But if you want a very light pocket knife that's sharper than a cutting remark, the U-2 is a good one, if you don't need larger. (My larger folders are from Gerber, Benchmade, and Puma.)

Japan is a place. You don't sharpen a knife a certain way because it's Japanese or German, or whatever. You sharpen it the way the blade is ground.

[Bullet Bob]

I have a Fallkniven TK4 folding knife, it's very good and can be worn on a belt, or carried in a pocket due to it's lightness.

I also have some Japanese and American folders and fixed blades, they all seem pretty good to me.

It's a wonderful world we live in with all these excellent choices, and with the worldwide resources of the internet to do the research. You do have to filter through some personal biases, but that's not too hard if you look at more than one or two sites; you can usually see a consensus.

My son has worked as a chef, and I bought him a whoop-te-do Japanese knife for his birthday last year, he likes it very much.